Why was AIR JAMAICA Sold? Could the airline be saved? 

Caribbean airlines is probably the qorst airline in this hemisphere..

Air Jamaica was the best airline

As a Jar-american this makes me cry! For years I took A.J. many times each year from the states to the Mo-Bay. Very sad loss.

Let's get our love birds back in the sky.🖤💚💛 one love Respect Jamaicans. The rebirth of Air Jamaica is a must no matter how long it takes, mark our words.

I love my Love Bird. Traveling from the Kennedy Airport and looked at the Love Bird a sense of pride was all I had. Thanks 👍🏽

The few times I flew the airline as a child, I remember the food that they served. Pure luxury.

Best airline eva. Safest!

This is the first airline I flew on, and was that ever a flight (I cried leaving my beloved grandmother, but was comforted by the friendly Jamaican crew). AJ was the last airline to provide actual cooked meals flying from the East coast United States (the good days). I’m very proud of our little tiny island having its own airline, and hope we will again. Thanks for the video, and I did learn a lot; one thing I did not know was that it sustained a single fatality (I’ll research more on this). 🙏🏿

🇯🇲Air Jamaica🛫 pilots👨🏾‍✈️ were the BEST 😊👍

UPGRADE JAMAICA AND BRING BACK THE AIR JAMAICA PLANE. STEP UP JAMAICA. ✈️

My son's dad was a mechanic there and everytime he saw an aircraft in the sky he'd get excited, shouting, "my daddy fix air jamaica pain" He was just 2 and couldn't say plane.😊

I cried when I hear one of jamaicas pride was going to be no more,one of the prettiest plane in the sky,very good pilots and stewardess,just gone 😢

I flew to the U.S on air Jamaica, then flew back in 1990 , on air Jamaica. It has the best safety record of all the other airlines, with only one crash in its entire existence. No other airline today holds this record. The death of air Jamaica was the biggest kick to the gut to the island, by the citizens of the island having to fly on airlines that are not native to the island. Air Jamaica will be missed dearly and never forgotten, even when the higlers were on it. Love you forever air Jamaica.

I missed Air Jamaica our heritage. Gone but not forgotten.

I understand why the airline had to be sold but it really breaks my heart that it happened. That 'little piece of Jamaica that flies' was a great source of pride for all Jamaicans around the world and for those traveling home, setting foot in an Air J Cabin felt like they had, in fact, come home. Maybe it was presumptuous that a country as small as Jamaica tried to operate an international airline but I hope that in the not too distant future Air Jamaica, or a new incarnation of it, can rise again.

Very informative, I do miss the Airline, I am hoping in the future it can be resurrected.

Thank you Elite Jamaica

Thank you. Really missed Air Jamaica so much, but we keep on trekking

The nostalgia of that commercial at the end. I wonder if we will ever be able to buy it back from Caribbean Airlines and revamp it and restore our national pride.

I remember as boy going to deadend beach in mobay on sundays to watch air Jamaica planes take off and land proud of it... wish we could have being it back

I miss Air Jamaica so much

Please bring air JamaicA back the best air line ever 😢

You neglected to mention how many times the airline had to pay fines for large quantities of drugs, Ganja/ Cocaine , hence Air Ganja became unsustainable.

They can down size to the ATR 72-600 and the E175 embracer planes and restart a new( Jamaican airlines) it can be done with the old livery and logo with a new sounding name 👍🏿 ✅

❤ The info. The feelings of patriotism is sorreal. Wish sir Jamaica could be back

I loved seeing the airline pride bus ,miss seeing it😢

I remember as a child at the waving gallery at NMIA it was indeed the most beautiful iron bird in the sky. It is sad we barely own anything for our beautiful island. Almost everything SOLD OUT 😢

I must say , I love that . Missing them greatly . Great job

Great work again Sir

Thank you for this video. Fond memories as far back as rhe in-flight fashion shows. Flying was a wonderful experience back in those days.

Rice and peas pun flight with stew chicken....normal... Boy I miss AIR JAMAICA FRFR😢

The problems was miss management. The seats of regular customer was canceled in order to put staff member who flew at a fraction of the cost on the flight.

BWIA flew for 60 yrs.then to a new airline in 2006 to Caribbean Airlines...Now what a lot of Jamaicans & others"may"not be aware of is the Jamaican G'ovt owns 29% 🇯🇲 & the Trinidad & Tobago G'ovt owns 71%🇹🇹 stake in the airline & presently has staff from many other caribbean islands 🏝 which is a large employer & creates millions of $$ in revenue for each island respectively...& let's not forget alot of the customer service agents,mechanics,flight attendants,pilots etc.are also Jamaicans.So please,bare in mind when criticizing or complimenting y'all are also part of Caribbean Airlines ✈

Air Jamaica, was the first aeroplane that i flown in from Jamaica to England, back in the 76.

It was the prettiest plane ever

I really love air Jamaica I live in Connecticut an the day the love bird stop flying I stop go to jfk

Air jamaica was a class act

Surprising outcome considering how lucratively successful it's destination routes continue to be.

Our own helped to bring it down..employees use to gi dem fren dem bly, not to mention family…mi know a yaadie dat had a travel agency n mi still marvel how him book space fi people nn never pay di airline…den u had di fiasco wid it being ‘twinned’ to my man big all inclusive chain…can memba di news article re di departure tax collected but no turn ovah….we r our worse enemy..sigh

Every flight I had in the 90s was with air Jamaica.The food was great and a remember them doing the catwalk Fashion show😂😂😂

The best airline I have flown on with hot meals. Caribbean Airlines bought it and was the worst experience I had. I was told some Jamaican business men were supposed to buy it back but I guess never came to fruition. Sad!

O my goodness I miss air Jamaica so so much beautiful air Jamaica 🇯🇲 🇮🇱

Great video

Thank you my brother. Peace and love.

Thanks Alex, but a lot of employees were paying only about 20$us everyweekend. Can you do some research on the maritime and, how many ships jamaica owned and where are they now. We had the Morant Bay and the Montego Bay.

I never get chance to fly with airline , but I wish airlines will return to sky loving the colours

Blessed love Alex to you and your family 👍❤️💛💚💯🙏🙏 very informative.👍

Nice report

Flew first class for the first ever on air Jamaica as a kid! I remember the staff and food being awesome! ❤

A number of negative problems in my opinion contributed to its downfall.unscrupulous workers putting drugs on the craft and poor management.Air Jamaica could have been vibrant if it was used to cover more Caribbean countries as is been done by the current operators

So sad to have lost our airline. Such a shame. We have practically sold all our national treasures. However I have learnt that even the great USA have also sold some of their well known American companies. Mi still mad doh.

Just couple days I was talking about Air Jamaica and it need to come back to our country. Sad thou

We know this was a sell out from the start when Caribbean Airlines didn't keep any of Jamaica of planes which was a fleet of all Airbus. We somewhat understand the business aspect of it. (Not wanting to go with a different leasing company) Instead, they got 2 or 3 more planes from their leasing company and paint them with Air Jamaica livery which was basic white with AJ logos. They eventually paint them back with Caribbean Airlines livery. You buy the airline, you get all the route / destination / slots etc. There was a sense of national pride seeing a small Airline flying 2 large wide body 4, engine Airbus A340. At one point AJ was the only one flying Airbus A321 to JFK. This was kind of cool, while everyone fly the short version (A320) they come the long version. JetBlue got some later, way after AJ used them. The 90s fleet was Airbus. A310, A319, 320, A321, and A340. All state of the art planes. The Caribbean option is 1960s design, constantly modifying Boeing 737.

I believe air JamaicA will fly again

it's 2024 now Air JMi NO DEAD YET! Joseph M Matalon, Joseph John Issa, and Michael Lee Chen are the richest Jamaicans. I'm sure they can strategize on how to bring the flagship and the spirit of Airjamaica's vision back to reality. This is the right time to make Jamaica prouder again and give us more economic development and growth.

I miss air Jamaica.. but i remember the ticket sale was down before it stopped.

Bless up King 👑 Jamaican politicians too corrupt that causes our things to sell

Sir Jamaica went down from the Government of the day turned it over to Butch Stewart! Greatest mistake! It was "the little part of Jamaica that fly" Missed it so much!!😢😥😣

It was Air Jamaica, British airline and Canada back In di days

I use to be so proud i used to travel from mobay an see all these air j planes lined up ready to go in all diffrent direction .seeing these young black pilots sometimes with big hats covering their faces and they keep pulling them up makes you smile .especially if you live in the us and you dont see much black representation in certain fields you felt proud and it was the on time no line airline the motto and accident free in modern times may one mishap in the 60s and the sad think the jlp goverment refused to sell the jamaican pilot association of jamaica they rather give it to trinidad for free fact so sad

With the demise of air jamaica how has caribbean airlines work out to support the jamaican tourism product?

Beautiful bird fi true 👍🙏

I remember listening to fly Air Jamaica years when I was pickney and radio growing don't know why they sellout our Airlines 🌺

My first and only flight via Air Jamaica, was in December 02. It was a connecting flight from a stopover in the US. The plane was over 4 hours late arriving, but nonetheless, I felt a sense of pride and it was an enjoyable fight. A pity, the service didn't last but, humans aren't perfect and even larger airlines have its operational problems. So I'm not going to throw shade at anyone for its eventual failure. Thank you for sharing.

Actually it was under the then transport minister Audley Shaw that the airlines was sold.

Portia simson was not prime Minister in 2010 when air Jamaica was sold it was mr Bruce golding at that time

I enjoyed the food they serve 😢 it was a beautiful moment in our history I felt so proud when i flew home on Air Jamaica 🇯🇲 ( poor management) better leaders will come ! I hope I get just a moment of it 🤔

🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲🖤💚💛

At the time Caribbean Airlines bought AJ, CA was only in operation for just a few years. The same challenges AJ faced, they would have also encountered. Obviously it was poor management that grounded AJ. That is why it's so crucial that our political leaders have some sort of business background. They couldn't manage not one company so they sold everything. AJ gone, Cement gone, Free Zone gone, Warf gone, Flour factory gone, Tourism not owned by Jamaicans. Bauxite gone. It's a down right shame and disgrace to see what they did with the entities of Jamaica.

Have you ever done a video on water commission. I'm curious who owns Jamaica's water supply and why can't all Jamaica's have access to water. People have been protesting this for years.

I use to travel on Air Jamaica it was a beautiful plane with very nice food and they even had a floor show in flight I was surprised when I heard they were going out of business.

That is so true almost everything so out pretty soon the people will be so old also, it’s a damn shame. Well, maybe it’s reality. I don’t know but right now Jamaican don’t own anything much they should try to put the pieces together, but they are fighting each other. Envious bad mind jealousy, and all the negative poor poor Jamaica. Jamaica, I’m sorry for you. The people let her down no matter what you should never sell out what I guess. Maybe it’s life or reality on God knows right now you don’t seem right Jamaica moving forward looking backward.

The interplay between corruption and gross mismanagement that caused it to fail, but it was never meant to be fixed. The Jamaican pilots wanted to buy the airline, but it was already decided by the real powers that be, that it was too much of a symbolic influence to Jamaicans.

My 1st flight to Jamaica from London was a choice price wise between air Jamaica and air India, with air India being cheaper. I chose to fly with air Jamaica. I'm glad I was able to fly with an iconic airliner before it became no more

I live practically across the street from JFK and when I see the love bird coming in for landing I felt proud. I was very sad when I heard that they sold out to Trinidad 🇹🇹. I pray that in the near future they will come back.

😢 💔

I’m away stay tuned ❤

Good job

We have to thank the P.N.P party for this sale they would sell hell on earth this was a sad day to everyone

Home in the sky

The cayman 🇰🇾 island 🏝 are smaller than Jamaica 🇯🇲 and even they have a national airline, which is a source of pride I hope that Jamaica 🇯🇲 learned something from the covid crisis when many Jamaicans were left stranded all over the world 🌎 without any way of getting home 🏡 I hope air Jamaica 🇯🇲 will rise again from the ashes like the Phoenix my friends indeed

My anti worked for Air Jamaica 🇯🇲 MY ENTIRE LIFE.. from before me BORN!! Till it sold ( she was on the board by then) she was a tea, coffee, tea coffee? Girl.. anywhoo all I know, from it became Caribbean Air the prestige and sophistication of Air Jamaica 🇯🇲 GONE… it’s the rudest set of airline stewardess ever met in my life and it’s the first time I have ever taken a airplane that a hand written sign is on the bathroom door that says “ OUT OF ORDER “ truly Ghetto… I tried to support the airlines because I am Caribbean. I go back-and-forth between America and home all the time but NO SAH!!! me cyaaaaaaan dweet… dem must go and come again…not good ATALL !!!

Ask the PNP

They coul have easily sold it to the team of men who wanted to purchase it. I have 4 scarfs and the air Jamaica pin. Rear treasure.❤

Air Jamaica could not be saved. I dated a lady who worked there; she said everybody who had an affiliation with the company was demanding and receiving free flights for themselves and their relatives, no matter how distant the relationship. Surprised that they managed to stay in business that long.

Bring it.back Markie G, please

Will Jamaica be able to get back into the aviation market. This time owned by the people.

I remember when there were 7 flights a day out of Miami

Damn there always something going down in Jamaica

I can't understand why the airline has to be sold it's just the management they had at the time. They did not have good management strategies and skills to streamline the inefficiencies, look at Cayman Airways, Bahamian even Caribbean Airlines, smaller countries, and fleets and they are still soaring the skies. Haiti and the Dominican Republic put Jamaica to shame with their own brand. Edmond Barlett and Andre Holiness need to make Jamaica proud again. March 2009 it was Bruce Golding, PM (JLP) who parted ways with the national carrier. SHAME Shame on bruce

Why was the account murdered? In the middle of the case? Was he silenced,? What did he knew? Was anyone arrested ? I attended his funeral.

I am honored to have flown air jamaica at least twice:hot, delicious jamaican cuisine for no additional cost,safest airline,amazing crew members.government has always been the greatest downfall of a nation.

We really need Air Jamaica back because Caribbean Airlines is too expensive as far as I am concerned. Why do we have to $670 from Jamaica to the Bahamas. Almighty God man, this is extortion.

Thank you for this information and video and for showing that commercial at the end , it brought back a lot of memories and emotions. I remember as a child growing up in the garrison of Jamaica on Mountain View Ave air Jamaica was a big part of helping me To make a decision on what I want to be in life and to make it out of the garrison I use to also attend windward road primary school and I use to save up my lunch money and go airport me and my friends to just go and see the airplane from the waving gallery 😢 it was what help me to know I wanted to be a pilot just watching them take off and land and wondering where they coming from or going even sometime watching them fly over head when I was a child sitting home I use to dream and wonder how much fun it must be to be able to fly away to somewhere safer than where I was living. But hey look at me now I take planes like taxi and got to fly them and even learn to fix them. So this really helped and your video reminded me of how much having a national carrier helped me dream big. Thank you.

This man really opened Pandora's Box on this one.

Air Jamaica was the best but Bad MANAGEMENT

Prime Minister Golding will put the plain back in the sky

Air Jamaica Airline serves jerk chicken and rice and peas hot meal i remember Miss you very much

Good video as usual. Air Jamaica should not have been shutdown, yes shutdown as the term “merging” with Caribbean airlines give the impression that you may see air Jamaica still in some form but we don’t. Caribbean Airlines doesn’t give good service from NY to Jamaica as its only does one day per week. I used to fly with Air Jamaica, then started with Caribbean Airlines but stopped after a couple bad experiences with them. I don’t think they have much regard for the Jamaican travelers. The IMF helped to force the government to get rid of it for the country to get continued loans from it.

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